[WSMDiscuss] The Vibrant Romani Culture and Music across Europe

Wed May 20 08:43:54 CEST 2020

Dear Jai and FriendsGreetings! Thanks a lot for being so nice and kind. I do agree that there is an attempt by the Hindutva advocates to appropriate the Roma diaspora as part of the Great Hindu Diaspora. 
I accept your request to do a post on similar stories from India. I shall do it in due course of time. 
As a challenge to appropriation by the Hindutva organizations, there is a small initiative in Hungary to link up Roma's struggle with Dr. Ambedkar and Dalit movement in India.  
Jai Bhim Network (www.jaibhim.hu) and Dr. Ambedkar School (www.ambedkar.eu).  
In due course of time I shall be doing some more posts on Roma people. 

With Regards and In Solidarity Umakant

    On Wednesday, 20 May, 2020, 09:33:43 am IST, Shalmali Guttal <s.guttal at focusweb.org> wrote:  

 I have seen Latcho Drom and thought it was excellent.  I also strongly recommend it.

On 20 May 2020, at 05:05, Jai Sen <jai.sen at cacim.net> wrote:

Apologies for this Postscript, but two friends have written into me to strongly recommend a wonderful film on the Roma – some say ‘One of the best tensuch films of all time’ !  Here are somedetails for you :

Latcho Drom

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latcho_Drom

Latcho Drom("safe journey") is a 1993 Frenchfilm directed andwritten by Tony Gatlif. The movie is about the Romanipeople's journey from north-west India to Spain, consisting primarily ofmusic. The film was screened in the UnCertain Regard section at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.

The film contains very little dialogue and captions; onlywhat is required to grasp the essential meaning of a song or conversation istranslated. The film begins in the TharDesert in Northern India and ends in Spain, passing through Egypt, Turkey,Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and France. All of the Romani portrayed are actualmembers of the Romani community. 

Preview @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzXV89ze1k4

Latcho Drom (rom for "safe journey") describes thetravels, singing and dancing of Romany groups from Rajastan (India), Egypt,Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, France, and Spain. Some scenes are acted,but there is no dialogue or narration--only partial translation of some songs.The film illustrates the variety of conditions in which the Romany peoplelive--earthbound nomads in the hot deserts of Asia, ironsmiths and abjectlypoor tree-dwellers in the frozen plains of Eastern Europe, and craftspeople andtraders in the hills and seasides of north Africa and western Europe. It alsoillustrates the similarities in travel habits, musical tones (spoons, opendrums, and string-based rhythms) and song themes (celebration of travel andperceived rejection by sedentary locals). 

www.rollingfilm.org www.rollinginternnews.wordpress.comwww.facebook.com/pages/Rolling-Film-Festival/194205320598831

Thanks Joanie, thanks Aroop !

            Jai

On May 19, 2020, at 3:35 PM, Jai Sen <jai.sen at cacim.net> wrote:

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Greetings, Umakant !

            I can't thankyou enough to putting together and posting this marvellous collection ofarticles and videos on the contributions the Roma have made (and continue tomake) to Europe.  (Just to give a little backgroundto my saying this, after Umakant posted an article on WSMDiscuss a while ago onthe structural discrimination – and violence - that the Roma continue to facein Europe, I requested him to consider doing a post that showed us the contributionsof the Roma to Europe – just to put in context the dissemination and invisibilisationthey face, and in order to also develop a more complete picture of them, and tovisibilise and celebrate them.  I thinkthat Umakant’s compilation definitely does this !)

            Having so farlooked at just one item though, I want to take the liberty to now extend myrequest to you, Umakant.  This collectionfocuses in the Roma in Europe, but the Roma of course live widely across the world,and where as far as I know, the generally accepted history is that they originatedin India and then spread across the world. I’d therefore like to ask you Umakant, whether you would consider doinga similar compilation on the Roma in India, and on their cultural and other contributions?  Such as of the Banjara ‘tribe’, that livesin central and western India, and that historically at least, cyclically migrates across thecountry ?

            From myside, I would like to add to what you have given us and contribute a short listof links to articles on the Roma ‘in the world’, as below.  Which shows - among other things – that they alsoexist and live widely across the US !  Butalso that as with the Dalits, the Hindutva state in India is keen to appropriatethe Roma as ‘lost Hindus’ – and therefore also, I would assume, lay some claimto the global diaspora ?  So even as theycontinue to be discriminated against, they are also the subject of cultural andpolitical appropriation…

            Once again,thank you, Umakant, for contributing to our beginning to make visible - if onlyat this moment to ourselves - this section of the so far invisibilised but wholive in societies across the world.  Butwhere I am taking the liberty of therefore also posing this reply on some otherlistserves where I think there are many who would be interested in this subject.

            In celebrationand solidarity,

            Jai

History of theRomani people

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Romani_people

European Roma descended from Indian 'untouchables',genetic study shows 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/9719058/European-Roma-descended-from-Indian-untouchables-genetic-study-shows.html

Roma (Gypsies) in Prewar Europe

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/roma-gypsies-in-prewar-europe

RomaniAmericans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_Americans

International Roma Conference to commemorate themillenium of migration of Roma from India, 28.11.2018-02.12.2018 (on the siteof the ‘Romani International Union’)

http://iru2020.org/the-indian-government-is-ready-to-recognize-20-million-gypsies-as-part-of-the-indian-world-diaspora/

The Modi Government, and RSS, Are Keen to Claim the Romaas Indians, and Hindus

https://thewire.in/diplomacy/the-modi-government-and-rss-are-keen-to-claim-the-roma-as-indians-and-hindus

On May 19, 2020, at 1:18 PM, Umakant via WSM-Discuss <wsm-discuss at lists.openspaceforum.net> wrote:

DearFriends

Greetings!On the links given below you could read and also watch some videos about thevibrant Romani culture and music across Europe. It has a long history and it isalso quite diverse and across genre from traditional folk songs to modernhip-hop and reggae style. Romani singers and musicians made a rich contributionin not only keeping their art alive but also passed them over to the futuregenerations. 

It maynot be possible to compile everything in such a small post like this but anattempt has been made to give a preview of what lies beneath the rich historyof Roma people in Europe through archival and contemporary resource materials. 

Do passit on to others in your circle/network. 

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“Gelem,Gelem”,The Roma Anthem was composed by Zarko Jovanovic and adopted at the First RomaniCongress held in 1971. It has been adapted in several orthography and localdialects of Romani language across Europe. It was titles as “Opre Roma (Arise, Roma)” 

I went, I went on long roads
I met happy Roma
O Roma, where do you come from,
With tents happy on the road?

O Roma, O Romani youths!

I once had a great family,
The Black Legion murdered them
Come with me, Roma from all the world
For the Roma, roads have opened
Now is the time, rise up Roma now,
We will rise high if we act 

O Roma, O Romani youths!

Open, God, White doors
So I can see where are my people.
Come back to tour the roads
And walk with happy Roma

O Roma, O Romani youths!

Up, Romani people! Now is the time
Come with me, Roma from all the world
Dark face and dark eyes,
I want them like dark grapes

O Roma, O Romani youths! 

(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_anthem)

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GipsyGroove - Xhellem Xhellem - Çaje Shukarie, Kartolinë nga Kosova

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxma46rDK6E

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Kosovo’s Bob Marley

EgzonAvdullahi, Balkan Insight, July 25, 2012 

https://balkaninsight.com/2012/07/25/kosovo-s-bob-marley/

Kafu earned his reputation from singing Qur’anic verses. But then hefound Bob Marley and was inspired to created a new music band , Gypsy Groove,fusing Balkans Roma music, mixed with jazz and reggae.

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GipsyKings - Live at The Royal Albert Hall in London

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x076bAjLo14

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Djelem Djelem - Barcelona Gipsy KlezmerOrchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23dW3H9yFSU

----------------------------

RomArchive

https://www.romarchive.eu/en/ 

Availablein English, German and Romani Language

----------------------------

A new digital archive of the Roma reflectsdiverse cultures

DW, January 24, 2019 

https://www.dw.com/en/a-new-digital-archive-of-the-roma-reflects-diverse-cultures/a-47208910

The Roma have contributed to European cultural history inunexpected ways. The new RomArchive is designed to raise awareness of Romanicultures and arts — and aims to counter stereotypical presentations.

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Kálmán Balogh: Hungarian Folk And Gypsy Music

AndrewKingsford-Smith, Culture trip, December 07, 2016 

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/hungary/articles/hungarian-folk-and-gypsy-music-an-interview-with-k-lm-n-balogh/

Renowned as one of the greatest cimbalom players in theworld, Kálmán Balogh is an iconic figure in the Hungarian folk andGypsy music scenes. We interviewed this virtuoso musician, asking him about hisinfluences and what it is like fusing this age-old genre with other styles fromdifferent cultures.

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Gypsy Songs from Hungary

TraditionalMusic Channel, November 22, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0-IAD9kNKk

----------------------------

Gypsy melody

Al Jazeera, July 30, 2014

Gypsy melody

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Gypsy melody
Two Serbian Gypsies celebrate Roma culture through music. |

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Two Serbian Gypsies celebrate Romaculture through music.

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WithRegards 

Umakant,Ph. D 

NewDelhi 

My final words of advice to you are educate, agitate and organize; have faith in yourself. With justice on our side I do not see how we can lose our battle. The battle to me is a matter of joy. The battle is in the fullest sense spiritual. There is nothing material or social in it. For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is battle for freedom. It is the battle of reclamation of human personality. 
B.R.Ambedkar
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____________________________

Jai Sen

Independent researcher, editor; Senior Fellow at the School of International Development and Globalisation Studies at the University of Ottawa

jai.sen at cacim.net

Now based in New Delhi, India (+91-98189 11325) and in Ottawa, Canada, on unceded and unsurrendered Anishinaabe territory (+1-613-282 2900) 

CURRENT / RECENT publications :

Jai Sen, ed, 2018a – The Movements of Movements, Part 2 : Rethinking Our Dance. Ebook and hard copy available at PM Press

Jai Sen, ed, 2018b – The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us Move ? (Indian edition). New Delhi : AuthorsUpfront, in collaboration with OpenWord and PM Press.  Hard copy available at MOM1AmazonIN, MOM1Flipkart, and MOM1AUpFront

Jai Sen, ed, 2017 – The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What Makes Us Move ?.  New Delhi : OpenWord and Oakland, CA : PM Press.  Ebook and hard copy available at PM Press

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Shalmali Guttal
Executive Director
Focus on the Global South
CUSRI: 4th Floor Wisit Prachuabmoh Building
Chulalongkorn University
Phayathai Road
Bangkok 10330
THAILAND
Tel: +66 22187363-64
Fax: (+66-2) 255 9976
www.focusweb.org

Would you like to help us?

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